Third Time's Charmed
by Phoebsfan
Summary: Phoebe questions her relationship with Cole.
1. The Words

Third Time's Charmed

Third Time's Charmed

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in this story unless you do not recognize them from the show. I also do not own any of the songs used in this chapter.

Chapter one…The Words

Phoebe opened her eyes and squinted against the sun peeking through the curtains.She rolled over again and put her pillow over her head. She didn't want to get up. She'd given up on making the hurt go away but sometimes when she was asleep she didn't feel it.Life was still good then.Things weren't so complicated.People weren't so…Well people didn't hurt you if you didn't want them to.Not like the real world.Not like real people. Being naturally trusting, she always found herself getting burned.It was just that this time hurt a lot more than any other.

From the down the hall she heard Piper's laugh and the answering laugh of Leo. She wondered if she'd ever be able to laugh like that again.Maybe when she could things would be ok again.Admitting to herself that Piper and Leo's happiness annoyed her had taken awhile, but she realized now that no matter how much she wanted to deny it, it would still be true.And there was nothing she could do about it.They deserved to be happy.Hell had taken on a new meaning for both of them and it was time they be allowed a little heaven.Watching it right now was hard though.But had she really diluted herself into thinking that saying goodbye to Cole would be easy?In her head she could dismiss him easily, it was her heart that was giving her trouble. It was always her heart.

Prue was humming something in her room and Phoebe held her breath to hear better.It was a slow tune that Phoebe recognized immediately.Wishing she hadn't she reached over and turned on her radio to try and block out the sound.

"I never found the words to say. And you're the one I think about each day. And I know no matter where life takes me to.A part of me will always be with you."

She quickly scanned for a new station.

"I don't want the world to see me.Cause I don't think that they'd understand."

She flipped again.

"Third time's a charm right." She muttered. "Yeah right."

"There's so much I need to say to you. So many reasons' why. You're the only one who really knew me at all…so take a look at me now there's just an empty space and there's nothing left here to remind me but the memory of your face." 

"That's it." She said slamming her hand down on the off button.

"Pheebs!" Prue called from her room.

"Yeah." She yelled back.

"Have you seen my black sweater?" Prue asked from her doorway.Phoebe stumbled out of bed and walked over to her closet.After a short and fruitless search she turned to her sister.

"Nope. Maybe Piper has it." She answered.

"Unlike you Piper asks." Prue answered.Phoebe stuck her tongue out at her older sister pretending that it wasn't a forced gesture to calm the troubled and worried thoughts she knew Prue had running through her head.Prue seemed to accept the gesture and moved on without questioning.Phoebe let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.The last thing she needed right now was an interrogation.

"Pheebs!" Piper called from down the hall.

"Yes!" she answered.This time it was Phoebe who found her way to her sister.The laughing couple had made their way downstairs and Phoebe found Piper at the bottom of the stairs calling up to her.

"We're going out.Do you want us to pick up anything for you?" her sister asked when Phoebe had reached the top of the stairs.

"Yeah a new life." She muttered under her breath. Then to Piper, "No. I'm fine."

"You sure?" Piper asked.Phoebe nodded.She could feel tears in her eyes and at any moment now she knew they'd spill over.For the first time Phoebe felt Leo must be and angel.With one look at Phoebe he saw through her, but he didn't interrogate or stop her from the self-destructive path they both knew she was on.He knew exactly how she felt.

"Come on honey." He said and ushered his wife away as the first tear fell.


	2. The Reasons

Chapter two…The Reasons

Chapter two…The Reasons

It had taken awhile to get to this.Before the pain there had been anger and before that the utter helplessness of betrayal.She had felt the cold nakedness of it, followed closely by the stinging sharp rage, now she was at the bottomless sinking feeling.Of all the emotions she'd gone through so far the first had been the worst.But it had also been the fastest to get over.

There were so many reasons for her to hate him right now.Phoebe pondered as she sat alone drinking coffee at the kitchen table.She supposed it would be easier if she moved back to anger.Sure he'd killed a witch that should be reason enough.But it wasn't.The feeling he'd given her, the helplessness she had felt, that was more a reason then the how that feeling had come about.It frightened her that someone could hurt her so badly.Cole shouldn't have been able to have that kind of power over her.No one should have.

It was easier to pretend.Maybe that was why she had never allowed anyone so close before.But with all they had been through Cole had been able to make it through the wall she had around her heart.He'd been the only one to make it to the wall, let alone get through it.And now she felt vulnerable.Now she felt helpless, now she felt betrayed again.It had been easier to deal with the empty bottomless sinking feeling.

How had she managed to let him in?Did he care that he'd done this to her? But she knew the truth was she'd done it to herself."It's over."Those were her words not his.And then to add injury to insult she'd told him to save himself.Well who was going to save her?Who would want to?

Who would want her? 

Not Cole.He couldn't possibly want her now.Because as much as he'd betrayed her she'd betrayed him.As self-righteously as she had told him to leave, he'd humbly done what she'd asked even though he must have been feeling it too.So who had been the better person?She knew she had acted rashly.She'd regretted it almost as soon as it had left her lips but for prides sake she had left it there, hanging in the air, forming a wall that no one could cross but herself, creating a cloud that might never dissipate.

Yes he'd killed a witch but she'd killed much more than that.

She'd savagely ripped apart his heart and fed it to him.

Even Prue had been disappointed.

Now the emptiness came back and she wished that he was here with her.He would have put his arms around her and kissed her head, whispering words that he meant with all of his heart.

It was her that was faulty.Even with his heritage, he'd been more human than her.

At this realization she felt humiliated.

"Well at least this is a new feeling." She said sarcastically.The pride that had kept her from retracting her words earlier kept her from forgiving herself and seeing that it was a normal reaction.It also kept her from seeing her fear and from accepting what had happened and moving on.And the more she thought about it the more able she was to twist it into something ugly and unrecognizable.

She arrived at anger again ahead of schedule.

That's when she decided to add him to the Book of Shadows.She wouldn't have been able to at any other time.But she could do it now as punishment.Every word she'd write would be a penance for every listening to him.

She only had a few pictures of him.She chose one of just him and a strip with the two of them.If he was more human than her it was only fitting that she join him in the Book of Shadows.The marker felt cold between her fingers. Cold and hard, like her heart.


	3. The Answers

Chapter Three…The Answers

Chapter Three…The Answers

Authors note: This takes place during the season finale of season three.The other previous chapters are sort of flash backs but I am still trying to find a way hook it all together.

It wasn't easy, making the decision to stay.Every part of her mind fought against it but it was the only thing her heart would allow.They had been there for her and Piper needed her now.She couldn't stand to watch Leo suffer like this.She knew exactly how it felt.If Cole…well she couldn't think about that now.

Phoebe wasn't naïve enough to believe that every thing would work out fine after this.Staying would probably result in death or much more worse things.But it was her choice and the only choice she could make.

It felt strange to say that Piper was dead.Foreign almost.She should be feeling something now, anything.It was odd that she didn't.Only love and peace filled her soul.Strange that now of all times she would be able to heal.Now she would truly be able to forgive Cole and move on.Now when it didn't matter.When she would probably die anyway.

Should she be scared?Piper was gone, Prue was suffering and she…she was deciding all of their fates.An odd feeling swept over her and she knew that Prue wouldn't be there when and if she got back.The peace she had felt before melted away.

"I only have one condition.You must warn Prue and Piper before the demonic hit man attacks…otherwise they're dead anyway." She told him.Cole swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded.It didn't do anything to alleviate the feeling that she had seen Prue for the last time.

Cole started to walk out of the room to inform the Source of her choice but she grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Tell Prue and Piper…tell them…I love them." She said quietly.Cole nodded again choking back emotion."No Cole. Make them understand." A single tear fell. "Especially Prue." She finished.He pulled her to him.

"Don't Phoebe.Leave.There has to be another way. If you stay…" he stopped as a tear rolled down his cheek.Phoebe pulled away and traced the line the brave drop had left with her finger.

"If I stay I die…if I go we all die."She found strength inside herself as the walls around her heart came tumbling down.Cole needed her to be strong.Piper needed her to be strong.And Prue…she'd remember Prue as strong.

"We can be together…" she tried hopefully.

"I didn't want it this way Phoebe.I would rather not have you at all."Cole stiffened.He was afraid, she realized.Outside he was trying to be the strong one but inside he was crying, she could see it in his soulful eyes.Those eyes had always held so much but now they were threatening to flow over and he didn't want her to see it.The love she saw reflected there for her and her family caught in her throat.She had made the right decision.

She'd saved Cole.She'd saved Piper.And she'd saved herself.

Phoebe only hoped that Piper and Leo would be ok.They had each other though and Piper was stronger then she realized.They all were.

"Go Cole.Go save them." She urged him.He needed to feel noble right now. He had needed to feel like he wasn't a traitor.After she was gone she hoped he would understand that it wasn't his fault.Otherwise the guilt of it all would destroy the path he had tried so hard to carve.

Cole nodded and left.Phoebe walked over to Leo who was still crying in the corner.She needed to be strong for him now.

"She'll be fine." She comforted.Leo nodded.

"She was so…cold." He said brokenly.

"Don't think of her that way.Remember her face at your wedding when the two of you had finally been joined.Remember how she always has that smile.You know the one I'm talking about.She only smiles that way at you." Phoebe tried again.Leo smiled.

"She can be so sexy when she's angry you know." Leo added.

"Oh I so agree." Phoebe joked.

"Thanks Phoebe." Leo said and hugged her."Can…can I do anything for you?" he asked uncertainly.How could anything he could do be of any importance?

"Watch out for Cole.When I am gone…He'll think it's his fault.Help him understand that it isn't.And take care of Piper.She'll need you more now then ever." She said calmly.

"What about Prue?" Leo asked.He saw the look in her eyes and knew the truth of it."She won't be with us very much longer either.Will she?"Leo asked sadly.

"I want so much to say that she will Leo…but…I don't think so…" she drifted off.

"No Leo…I don't think she will."


	4. Starting Over

Chapter four…Starting Over

Chapter four…Starting Over

So they had ended at the beginning. Where were they now?Phoebe watched as Leo orbed out leaving her alone.The place wasn't so bad as far as evil bad demon like hangouts come.At least Cole had some straw and a pillow.Things could be worse right.

A silent tear slipped down her soft cheek.Sure.Things could only get better.Right.She believed that one.

But she had to pull herself together and stop thinking like that.She had to be happy and ok with this.If not for her but for Cole.She didn't have to stay in fact no one was forcing her to do anything.She'd made the choice now she'd have to live with it.

She heard a noise behind her and she knew it was time.

"Turn around witch and meet your destiny." An evil voice snarled.She complied what good was fighting this anyway.His face held a kind of awe when she saw it.Like he couldn't believe that he would be so lucky.Like he'd waited for something like this his whole life and now that it was here he was in shock.

In his hand was a cold athamae.Phoebe could almost feel it rip through her skin.It wouldn't be long now.She shuddered.The demon noticed and woke up from the trance he'd been in.

"He didn't tell me how 'Charming' you are." The demon sneered."He died well."Phoebe's blood ran cold.

"What?" she choked out fearing the worst.The demon laughed and made a big show out of wiping some blood off of the athamae.Blood she hadn't noticed before.How could she have missed that?

"He died well.Belthazar that is."Here he paused for emphasis. She didn't cry.It hurt too much for tears to express.Again he had been taken from her and this time it was for good.Tears were easier, why wouldn't they come?Why couldn't she cry?"He did ask me to spare you.I think I will too.With Belthazar out of the way as well as your sister I'm sure that you won't be too much of a problem.Though I do still have my orders to kill you.Too bad.I would have kept you alive just for fun.But I can't be disappointing the Source now.Not after Belthazar."Here he smiled sickly at her and she wished he would hurry up with it because this pain she was in right now couldn't be worse then what would happen if he didn't kill her, if he made her stay alive suffering like this.She'd done it twice already.She couldn't do it a third time.It wasn't in her.

The demon grabbed her from behind and put the knife up to her neck.

"If I cut here you'll go to fast." He slid the knife down to her chest pointing it inward."Here is really quite messy but then again so is almost anywhere else."If he was expecting her to fight back she wouldn't.Not now.Cole had taken any will to survive with him.She could survive for the power of three but it was gone, she was sure of it now.She could live for Piper but Piper had Leo.And Phoebe had no one.

He had his face pressed up against her cheek and it took all she had in her to not push away.

"Enjoy endless torment. Witch." He whispered fiercely in her ear.

Phoebe felt the cold hard blade sink in to her and she gasped.It hurt and there was so much blood.The demon let her body drop to the floor and left her. This was easier than losing Cole this was physical it never hurt like before.Phoebe only wished it didn't have to be this way.Her hands clutched at the knife.It hurt so badly. And the blood was covering her hands and leaving them sticky.She could taste it in her throat.Coppery and sickeningly salty.The warm liquid spilled out and flowed through her slippery yet sticky fingers leaving life in its path.Suddenly she had the desire to live.What was beyond this?Where was she going?Would Piper be all right?Were Cole and Prue really gone?

As the life slowly ebbed past her helpless hands she closed her eyes to block out the sight.There was so much blood too much.People didn't have that much did they?Everything was in black and white except for the red.Everything was turning red.With every heartbeat more pushed its way past the cage of sticky fingers.With every breath the knife stung deeper.

She saw things from her past.Memories in black and white were turning red with blood.The smell filled her nose and made her want to vomit.She had to roll on her side or she'd drown in her own blood.She managed to turn her head and blood trickled out of her mouth in a slow dripping crimson stream.

How come her heart hadn't stopped?How come her life hadn't poured out with the blood?How come everything was red now?

Red was the color of roses and valentines.It was love.

And Phoebe seemed to have an endless supply.

She tried desperately now to keep it from slipping past her fingers.She needed her love and her life she couldn't let it go now.But her hands were helpless, sticky and clumsy.

The tears came then.Drop after endless drop mixed with the scarlet mess.Suddenly she wished she'd fought back.She would have been able to take him.

"Leo!" she cried out with all her might but it only came out as a whisper, barely audible, barely there.

There wasn't any red any more.Slowly it was all fading away.Leo couldn't hear her and she knew it.The sticky, slippery substance that stained her didn't matter anymore.Her heart was finally giving up and breathing wasn't so difficult if you couldn't do it.Phoebe closed her eyes and thought of Cole.He would have been disappointed in her.Then she lost consciousness.

Leo orbed in with Piper.Both crying. Prue was gone.Leo hadn't made it back in time and Cole hadn't warned them.They had a spell to set Phoebe free but they needed to get to her first.

Leo saw her first.

"Piper honey.Wait here." He told her and tried to keep Phoebe out of sight from his wife.He couldn't tell if she was still with them.If she was she wouldn't be for long.

"Oh my God! No!" Piper cried out as she saw her sister on the floor."No Pheebs!Leo do something!" she cried as she rushed over to her sister.Leo was already at the younger girl's side trying to heal her.There was so much blood.And Phoebe felt so cold.The knife looked so out of place and cruel in her broken body.Piper pulled it out viciously.A fresh spurt of blood flowed from the hole.

"Phoebe come back honey.You're going to be fine Leo's here and he's going to heal you.Come on honey come back to us." Piper called out desperately trying to stay calm.This was too much like Prue.This was all too real.Phoebe could be gone forever.They weren't invincible just because they were witches.They could die.People died.Witches died.Prue died.

Phoebe heard her sister in the darkness.She had almost slipped away to where there wasn't any red or black only a golden amber. Prue told her to fight it. She fought it.The pain was gone.

Phoebe opened her eyes and was instantly engulfed by a tearful Piper.

"Don't ever do that again!" Piper warned choking back tears.

"Prue is gone.Cole is gone.What now?"Phoebe asked.

"Now we go home." Piper said with courage she never knew she had.


	5. The Questions

Chapter five…The Questions

Chapter five…The Questions

Authors note: In all of the previous chapters we have been with Phoebe now I'm going to see where Cole takes this.And don't freak out yet because the ending isn't going to be as depressing as the rest of this.

She hadn't given him a fighting chance.Why didn't she give him a chance?True he'd killed an innocent witch, but it hadn't been his fault.

How could Phoebe just throw him away like that?He knew she loved him, at least he thought she did.

Cole kept playing that night over in his head.Every time though he still ended up at the same place, here, alone, without her by him, without her in his arms.He never knew it could hurt this much.He hadn't realized exactly what he had been getting himself into and now that it was really over between them…

He hated her.She was always the one who told him and everyone else that he could do it, that he wasn't evil, that he was good and that in his heart there was…well there was something good.Now at the first test of it she threw it all out the attic window.She'd shattered his heart just as surely as she'd smashed that goblet.

How was what she did better than him?No one had made her say and do the things that she did.No one had made her do anything and yet she still…

This human thing was harder than he'd ever imagined it would be.Maybe Raynor had been right to try and get him back.Cole had to admit that killing Raynor had felt good.A part of him had reveled in it.A part of him had needed it.

Maybe then Phoebe was right to hurt him the way she had.Maybe he would never win this battle with himself.If he never won what good would he be to them.

Still he did not understand why it had to be like this.He probably never would understand it.

Her words, _save yourself_ rang in his head and lodged in his heart like a knife.He didn't think she could ever hurt him like that with only two words.

Alone they meant nothing, together they were everything.

Now Cole was nothing he'd lost his everything when she left.

What did it matter what he did now?

She had no right to judge him like that.He'd give her something to judge him by.

She had summoned him earlier probably to vanquish him and he was glad now that he had the strength to resist her pull.He never wanted to see her again.If she had so little faith in him she wasn't worth his time

He was glad now that he had called the alchemist to transmogrify his blood.

How could he have been so certain that he had never wanted to see her again?Now that was all Cole wanted to see.He couldn't stand looking in to her eyes that were so filled with anguish that was the only way to describe it.Piper had said that all he needed to do was tell her he loved her.

It was true he did still love her.And seeing her now as this demon was hurting him so much.He realized that he couldn't hate her.Phoebe was paying for it.More then she wanted to say.

"Phoebe I love you." He croaked out.She changed before his eyes.He had told her then of Raynor's control over him.It hadn't changed anything.He hadn't expected it too.

Seeing her had done something to him.It had awakened all of the feelings he had tried to suppress.Her lips had tempted him invitingly beckoned even but he fought it.The last thing they needed was for him to confuse them more.He couldn't however leave without touching her.He had tried but found that urge to tempting to resist.

He had stroked her smooth flawless cheek and remembered what it had tasted like when he had still been allowed that privilege.He pushed the though out of his head there was no room for those "phoebe thoughts" as he had labeled them.

Memories of when they were happy and together filled his mind and he pushed them out.He had to shimmer now or he'd do something both of them would regret.

With one last longing look he had shimmered away leaving her with questions none of them could answer.

This morning when he had awakened to her face…it had almost been like old times.Except for the fact that he had wanted to kill her.Then she had changed him.Like always she had fixed the problem.

She had been locked in his arms again two point four seconds later in an embrace Cole wanted to last forever.How he had missed this.How he had missed her in his arms, missed her smiling face, missed her full lovely wonderful perfect lips.There joy had been short lived however.

Love didn't solve everything.The person who came up with the idea that it did ought to be shot he remembered thinking.

And now…now he was alone again.Phoebe was probably in the other room dying and he couldn't get to her fast enough.

The underling demon that the Source had sent to do the job hadn't killed him only detained him very effectively with a stab wound through his chest.If he didn't get help soon however that same demon may very well have killed him.

But only the thought of getting to Phoebe on time filled his mind.He had tried to shimmer but they were somehow blocking his powers.So he found himself staggering through a maze of hallways trying to get to where he had left her.Leaving a trail of blood behind him.

The room was empty except for the straw and his pillow and in the corner…Cole turned away.He didn't want to see what he felt.

He had felt her slip away.He had known that that was what it was but he wanted so badly to deny it.

The blood-covered knife however took that away.

Phoebe was gone, his soul mate was gone, the only thing in his life that was worth anything had been taken from him.Because of him.

"No!" he screamed in agony."Phoebe!" he cried sinking to the ground by the cruel weapon that had been used to take her away from him.It was her blood on that knife.He picked it up and threw it violently at the wall where it stuck.It was her blood that now stained his hands.

They would pay.

Bitter tears of pain and anger filled Cole's eyes spilling over and running down his not so brave face.Leaving tracks washed clean of dirt and drying blood.

She had been those tears.Wiping his soul clean of all the dried blood and dirt.Now as he stood here he knew that he could never go back.She had told him to save himself but in not trying she had saved him.

Yes, she had loved him with more love than he had ever seen.She had been full of love.And every time he had dropped by he had seen it in her eyes.

Cole wanted that.He wanted that love that he had so freely given him to fill his soul forever.He wanted to make her proud of her sacrifice.

He had to give it some kind of meaning or it would tear everything apart.


	6. The Memories

Chapter six…The Memories

Chapter six…The Memories

"Do you still think about him?" Piper asked her younger sister as they sat in the kitchen drinking their morning cup of coffee.

"I think I always will.Do you still turn around and wonder if maybe Prue will come around that corner and make everything alright?" Phoebe asked in turn.It had been about a month now since they had lost their older sister and it was the first time the subject had been approached.

"Yeah.It's like a bad dream." Piper said sadly.

"One that never ends. I know how you feel." Phoebe agreed.

"It's supposed to get easier.At least that's what everyone says." Piper tried with little success.

"I wish it could have been different." Phoebe said as she tugged at her necklace.

"We shouldn't have lost Cole."Piper agreed.Phoebe looked at her sister surprised.If anything Phoebe would have guessed that it would have been Prue that Piper would have wanted to save."Prue was ready.You said yourself that she had sounded happy." Piper explained.Phoebe nodded.

"Are you still having those dreams?" Piper asked.

"I didn't know that anyone else noticed." Phoebe said shyly.

"We are both worried about you Pheebs.You didn't just lose a sister you lost your soul mate and that's hard.I know." Piper tried to gain a foothold but phoebe shot her down.

"I'm fine.Don't worry.I've gotta run.I promised a friend I'd do something for them." Phoebe said as she hopped up from the table.Piper watched her sister leave and hoped that Phoebe was right.

Phoebe paced the floor of the mausoleum.It was the first time she'd been back here since before…since before he'd gone away.She still couldn't say died.

She'd never noticed how dark and chill it was before.

"Cole…I don't know if you can hear me.If you can, and I hope you can, I need you to know I love you." She started out, "I wish that we could be together.I wish I could undo everything but since I can't I need you to know that I was wrong.I was wrong to do the things that I did.I never should have let you go.I can't begin to justify myself, I know at the time I had my reasons but looking back they seem too insignificant and selfish to do justice to how I acted.I need you to know that I am sorry and that I would do it differently if I had the chance.You'll never know how hard it is for me to say those words."Phoebe sat down by the hole she had made so long ago when she pretended to vanquish him.Knowing that things could never be the same again hurt her but she fought the urge to cry.Instead she rested her head on the ground by the hole and fell asleep.

His injuries had healed now and they let him go wherever he wanted.He wasn't going to kill for them in fact he wasn't going to do anything for them.They were coming to accept that…a little.

Through other demons he had come to learn that Prue was dead and he felt he had to go and check on Piper and pay his respects to Prue.They had been family.Or the closest thing he had had to it in a long time.

So he shimmered to the mausoleum where he found her lying on the floor.

He could have sworn his heart stopped.Maybe hers did to for she jerked awake at the moment his eyes found her.Their eyes locked in wonder.

"Oh Phoebe." He groaned as he rushed over to her and cradled her in his arms."Is it really you are you really here?" he mumbled into her hair.

"Cole." She mumbled into his chest."I thought you were…he told me you were…" she continued and pulled away to look into his eyes.

"Dead?" he questioned.At the cloud that passed over and the slight nod he knew that it was what she had thought."No. I thought you were…Oh phoebe I love you so much.All this time and we were both alone…" she broke him off with a kiss.

Suddenly the mausoleum didn't look so dark and it didn't feel as cold.

"Phoebe I still have to breathe." Cole slightly protested as he pulled away.Phoebe gave him a pouty look and he smile back at her and kissed her again."Better?" he asked when she pulled away.Tears were running down her cheeks but this time they weren't tears of anger or pain.They didn't clean away any past sin and they didn't hurt as they tumbled down her smooth cheek.Cole kissed them away understanding that they were needed now.

"How is everyone holding up?" He asked after she had finished crying.

"We're pulling through.Some days are harder than others but now that…" she said letting her fingertips dance across his face.

"There were some days I thought I'd never make it but knowing you pulled me through…Phoebe you are the best thing that ever happened to me. Losing you was the worst thing that ever happened to me.You're my everything." He finished choking on the last words as emotion got the better of him.This time she kissed away his tears.

"I'm not losing you again Cole.We can figure this out.I need you too.Now come on." She said pulling him to his feet. "Let's go home." 

The End


End file.
